Mountain Girl

Keto Mug Cake - 2 TBSP Almond flour - 1 TBSP Swerve/Sugar Substitute - 1 TBSP Coco Powder - 1/4 tsp baking powder - 1 tsp water -1 TBSP Sour Cream -1 Egg 1) Combine dry stuff (flour, swerve, coco powder and baking soda) 2) Add sour cream, egg and water 3) Stir until it's all mixed up 4) Nuke for 2-3 mins until it's done and puffy and looks like a cake.   176 calories, 2.9g net carbs/cake. Enjoy!

So...still alive. Still haven't finished Book Four.   I know, I know.  Work stuff got in the way, and I think I burned myself out by writing three novels in less than a year, and the whole parenting thing...and then I got a full time job, too.  But I'm still here ;)  Still (somewhat) active on Twitter - and finally breached 1k followers!  So thanks to everyone in the #writingcommunity for that, you are all awesome! The Writing Thing. I've got another three book ideas the churn out, now that my work will be slowing down for the next few months.  The great thing about working in a tourist town is that, once summer is over, it gets reaaaaally quiet until the warm comes back.  Especially since the kids are heading back to school.  I'll actually have time to think.  And overthink.  I'm wondering if two of my book ideas are too similar.  The third, of course, is more Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy cross ove...

Know what's frustrating? Writing a decent-length blog post about All The Shit I've Done With Apples just now, and then having it not save in spite of having deliberately hit the 'save' button multiple times. Urgh. Anyway, I've done A Lot of Shit With Apples in the past week or so.  This much of it, in fact: Which is a lot.  11L of apple cider/juice (two of them with cranberry in), 2.5L cranberry-apple jelly, 1.25L regular apple jelly, 57 cups cut up for pie/jelly/applesauce in the freezer, 6L of applesauce (7, if you count the jar we've already eaten), 1.25L apple-blueberry jam...and a couple randoms of cherry jam and blueberry-raspberry from earlier in August. But yeah...had a big long post... Bah. Anyway, here is my cranberry-apple jelly recipe, because it's fantastic and I want you guys to have a go (if you're inclined): Things you'll need: A lot of apples A lot of cranberries Water A Big-ass Pot Time Pectin ...

It's Writing Tip Wednesday - on a Friday!  (Because I forgot to write it when I should have...) Which brings me to my tip:  Schedule Shit. Weekly Disclaimer Thing :  Writing, like all art, is a subjective experience.  Stuff that works for me won't necessarily work for you...though I hope it does, since I'd love for everyone to succeed.  Can never have enough books to read!  Either way, take these tips with the giant grain of salt needed to season it to your liking, since I could very well be talking out my ass. Scheduling is Like the Outline of Your Life. I know.  So deep. But it really is.  I don't know why this didn't occur to me ages ago, since it's so damn obvious, but I think the perspective shift is good.  It is!  Because outlines are important, as we know (even if they're loose ones), so scheduling shit is important too.  The level of it is, of course, up to you and what you're comfortable with....

Miscellaneous Monday Wherein I Babble About Random Things THE BOOKS HAVE GONE WIDE! Well, at least two of them have.  The third is still waiting out its term in KU, but as soon as that's done...Woo!  So, Snowed In  and Smoked Out  are both available on multiple platforms now!  Including Kobo SUPER PRETTY LINKS: Snowed In Smoked Out So yeah.  Check them out, if you want.  They're both still available on Amazon, of course, as paperbacks as well. Cherry Update I've washed, pitted, bagged and frozen...40 cups of cherries so far.  Which is approximately 10 L of them.  I'll use about 4cups/batch of whatever it is I'm making (jam or pie filling or whathaveyou), so I'll have a lot of canning to do.  Especially since I've still got another ~10L left to pit. And apples to pick. Speaking of jam, I used the raspberries from the garden and some blueberries from the store to make jam today.  I friggin love the col...

Oops...almost forgot to do this ;) I took this one because of the colours.  There was a campfire going and stuff, but I've always loved trees against a sky this colour...super soothing. This is the end of a hiking trail.  Trees have been beset by goddamn pine beetles, which is why they're so red.  There was a storm blowing over, which is why the sky was so dark, and perfect lighting elsewhere... There's another trail a few meters to the "left" of this pic that has been closed all summer due to bear activity.  Fun times. Hope you enjoyed!

Weekly Disclaimer Thing :  Writing, like all art, is a subjective experience.  Stuff that works for me won't necessarily work for you...though I hope it does, since I'd love for everyone to succeed.  Can never have enough books to read!  Either way, take these tips with the giant grain of salt needed to season it to your liking, since I could very well be talking out my ass. So, last week was a little bit about Fiddling, and the bare bones of my editing process.  This week will be...Outlining.  (Dun dun duuuuun!) I know people hate outlining.  It can be frustrating.  But you really should outline your stories.  Really.  Even if you're a born Pantser, you should still outline just a little bit.  It makes things so much faster . Which reminds me, I really need to re-outline my current WIP, since I'm getting lost in the middle. And that's the thing - the outline can change.  If you're in the middle of writ...

Trudie Rowland (c) Aug 8, 2017 Cherries, Cherries and...More Cherries! So, Hubs has a boss who lives near by, and he has a cherry tree in his yard.  He also doesn't have time/energy to pick the cherries, or know what to do with them, so for the low, low price of All The Cherry Pie He Can Eat, he lets me do it (I also get to keep whatever I make out of them, which this year is going to be mostly jam). This year, we got ~ 20L of cherries - again.  That was about the yield we got last year.  It's a lot of cherries.  I also used last year's pic, since the lighting was better (this year, everything's smoky and gross owing to forest fires out west). Now I have to pit them all, so that's going to be fun.   Last year it took me about a week solid, by myself, one at a time.  This year... Will probably be about the same, actually.  Which is going to be such fun, because by the time I'm done pitting and canning all of these, it's time for apple...

So, I got it into my head to do something for Fridays too...so...Photo Fridays.  I'm normally all about the alliteration, but...well, I'm also all about spelling and I can't bring myself to spell 'photo' without the 'ph', so...it's...yeah. Anyway, please enjoy these pictures of my "backyard". Note, it's not actually  my backyard, but it's still within a five minute drive of my house, so that counts. Pics by me, unless noted otherwise. A beautiful mountain lake.  Also the background for the top graphic thing with the words on. It's a good, quiet spot to sit and contemplate life.  Also where I got married, so...yeah.  Very tranquil.  Late evening is the best time for lack of other people, worst time for bugs.  It's a trade off.   Axe in Firewood So, this one has a humorous backstory in which I was trying to get a "noble woodsman" shot of my brother chopping wood.  Which wasn't working...

For this Wednesday, I thought I might go over my editing process. The Weekly Disclaimer:   Writing, like all art, is a subjective experience.  Stuff that works for me won't necessarily work for you...though I hope it does, since I'd love for everyone to succeed.  Can never have enough books to read!  Either way, take these tips with the giant grain of salt needed to season it to your liking, since I could very well be talking out my ass. So, last week it was Finish - then Fiddle.  This week it's the Fiddling Bit. I do three passes: 1) Read It Through - I will sometimes fix little typos I find along the way, or at least make note of them so I can get them on the second pass.  But mostly I just want to get a sense of whether or not the scene/chapter is complete. 2) Add What Needs To Be Added And Fix What Needs To Be Fixed - Sometimes it's just a sentence or two, sometimes its whole paragraphs of exposition or dialogue or whathaveyou....

Because why not...? Inane Stuff First: I have discovered that I can indeed make good sandwich bread, using this recipe .  Before, I'd been struggling to get the damn thing to rise a second time, so while it was tasty it was also squished.  But, not any more!  I made four loaves yesterday, and another batch today to (hopefully) become buns.  We're already down to  three loaves.  It's that good. So, I couldn't be more pleased with myself.  It's fluffy, and light, and doesn't fall apart when you look at it sideways, and smells AMAZING. Someday, I'll be brave enough to make sourdough. Writing Stuff... WIP is...well, I'm working on it.  Now I've got family visiting on top of having 3 kids to watch, so my writing time has...diminished.  Still plugging away at it, though.  I'll get there!  Eventually.   I feel bad, thinking that it's not going to be done when I'd wanted it to be (I really should be ...

My first one!  Yay!  I did up a little graphic thing and everything.   The Weekly Disclaimer:   Writing, like all art, is a subjective experience.  Stuff that works for me won't necessarily work for you...though I hope it does, since I'd love for everyone to succeed.  Can never have enough books to read!  Either way, take these tips with the giant grain of salt needed to season it to your liking, since I could very well be talking out my ass. My Tip For This Week:   Write.  Just write it out.  Get the bare bones down, and when you come to the end, go back to the start and add in the flesh.  The details and the adjectives and the rewording of awkward sentences.  You get to do as many passes as you want. The other side of this is, of course, that you need to know when to stop obsessing over every phrase.  Otherwise, you'll never move on to the next bit and you'll get stuck fiddling with details tha...

Whelp... I'm behind in my word count goals for my current WIP by...pretty much the whole book.  This one's taking a little longer than I had planned.  The authorial end of the summer slump I guess. Also, apparently, there's a summer slump, which I am feeling most keenly. So...any book buying you guys want to do would be most appreciated.  You know...if you want to. ;P Look!  I've got THREE whole books to choose from!  Three! And they're all good.  So I've been told ;P  Snowed In (Book One) is $0.99 to get you started. Anyway, I still don't have a release date for the current WIP.  I was hoping for the end of Aug, but now...not so sure.  I'll keep everyone updated on that, though. Random Thoughts: I need to figure out how get the bread I've been making to rise a second time (trying to do sandwich bread; rises the first time, second time...not so much).  Going to try a different recipe next time... I'm considering doi...

So, I updated my website...and the blog and stuff to match.  Wasn't digging the red, feels like the blues match my covers and overall personality better, so...yay!  I like it.  Hopefully you guys will too. So...Book Four of the Olsson's Pass Series is on hiatus at the moment.  It wasn't coalescing in my brain the way I wanted to, so I've put it down for a moment.  Plus, it seems there's something of a diminishing returns thing going on with series' in general, so...there's that, too.  And I haven't got the money for proper marketing right now. End result...I'm doing a standalone!  Signed up for CampNano again...and again, am very much behind.  I can't seem to sit down long enough to do more than 1000 words at at time these days, for various reasons.  Maybe I left too much time for my Rest After Release thing, but it seems like every time I sit down to write I either procrastinate or get dragged back out into the real world to deal with st...

Musings Firstly... I just want to say a huge, hearty THANK YOU to everyone who left a review on Release Day.  I don't know if I've adequately expressed my thanks, so all of you have it.  I sent out 20 copies on Booksprout and got 9 reviews over all - and they were all good!  I must be doing something right ;) So THANK YOU, again, those reviews made my day.  Hugs all around!  And as always: HERE is Tracked Down , $0.99 ebook and $10.99 Paperback.   And if you have an interest in Snowed In  and Smoked Out , they're available as well. And the Rest... Good reviews aside, I had a brief moment of self-pity wallowing the other day because someone bought and then returned one each of the first two books.  I know my stuff's not for everyone, but it's the first time this has happened since I released Snowed In  in Nov 2017.  So it smarts a little, even if I get it.   Bah.  No sense doing the spilled milk...

Tracked Down  is Live! Yup!  Both e-book AND paperback are available on Amazon.  It's also in Kindle Unlimited!  Whee!  Go buy now! CAN: ebook US: ebook / paperback UK: ebook / paperback AU: ebook Giveaway Update! Super happy and excited to announce that Nicky Heim is the winner of my first ever giveaway!  She wins the tote bag, stickers, bookmark, signed copy of Snowed In  and $25 Amazon gift card! A great big THANK YOU   to everyone who participated!  I'll definitely be doing more giveaways in the future, so keep an eye out, either here or on Twitter (where I post most of everything anyway).  Some Acknowledgements I want to take a moment to personally thank the wonderful people over at Booksprout who took the time to read my book.  I'm looking forward to your reviews (if you feel like leaving one) and to growing from the experience.  I hope you liked the book! Thanks again, everyone!

It's Countdown Time! Tracked Down  is being released on May 31st...that's FIVE DAYS from now!  Yay! You can Preorder your ebook copy here for $0.99.  USD If you're new and need to catch up: Snowed In and Smoked Out  are also available on Amazon! The Giveaway ends on May 29 at 23:59! Entere HERE for some great prizes!  There's a signed paperback copy of Snowed In , an awesome tote bag, a couple cool stickers with a neat bookmark...and a $25 Amazon gift card, which is essentially free money.  I'll announce the winner on the 31st when the book launches.  Just three days left to enter! Cat Tax: Meow.

Hey, everyone!  It's time to show you the cover for Book Three of the Olsson's Pass Series - TRACKED DOWN. I hope you like it, and the book that will come attached to it! No pressure :P Anyway, first things first... The Giveaway It's my first one!  I have no idea what I'm doing!  Yay!  Here are the things! A signed copy of SNOWED IN: The Shifters of Olsson's Pass Book One, by Trudie Rowland (me) A $25 Amazon Gift Card A TrudieRowland.com tote bag in which to carry your stuff A bookmark, featuring Angel in wolf form A couple awesome stickers from Society6 I did everything through Rafflecopter, so you can find the giveaway HERE .  I'll be posting a link on the social medias too, for any of those interested :) Now onto.... The Book! PreOrder will be available as soon as it's live.  I'll update with links and stuff. *Live! You can PreOrder it here  for $0.99 USD until May 31st, 2018 About Tracked Down : In a n...

First Things First: Book Three is...almost done!  About 75% done.  Well, at least the writing part.  I'll still need to edit, but I've got some time set aside for that (obviously).  But it feels good to be coming up to the finale of the story and mostly  on schedule too.  I'm excited to publish it.  Hopefully you guys will like it as much as I do :P ARC List! I've set up a sign up form for ARC Readers on my website ; there's also an external link.  As soon as the book is ready, I'll let everyone know so they can go to the hosting site (in this case, BookSprout) and download from there. Ooooo, things are moving along! Misc. Stuff The usual reminders...got stuff if you want stuff, at CafePress and Society6 .  I ordered some stickers from Society6 for the giveaway that's coming up - I'm quite happy with them.  Kinda want to keep them myself...but I won't ;P Also...<spooky ghost voice> BUY MY BOOOOOKS </spooky...